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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22416097">musaghara</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllegoriesInMediasRes/pseuds/AllegoriesInMediasRes'>AllegoriesInMediasRes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>OTP: I am doing this for myself (Mehrunissa / Padmavati fics, Padmaavat) [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Padmaavat (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Drabble Collection, F/F, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:34:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,210</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22416097</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllegoriesInMediasRes/pseuds/AllegoriesInMediasRes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Various Padmaavat fills from Tumblr.</p><p>Title means "miniature" in Arabic.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mehrunissa/Padmavati</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>OTP: I am doing this for myself (Mehrunissa / Padmavati fics, Padmaavat) [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1460137</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Mehrunissa, lavender blue, lavender green</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/avani/gifts">avani</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlyphArchive/gifts">GlyphArchive</a>.</li>



    </ul><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>For @avani008, who requested “Padmaavat, Mehrunissa, lavender blue, lavender green” for 3 sentence fic.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Alauddin likes her in dark red. It complements his own black robes and black court and black heart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mehrunissa wears her gowns of shimmering blues and sea-soft greens as often as she can.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Mehrunissa, senseless</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>For @glyphenthusiast, who requested “Three sentence fic for Padmaavat, Mehrunissa, senseless?”</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>She is not jealous, not exactly, of Mewar’s younger queen — to hold the Sultan’s heart is no true prize — but she is sickened by the senseless slaughter Alauddin is willing to wreak on their own kingdom just to have a woman he has never seen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(When Padmavati steps out from her palanquin, Mehru thinks, for a moment, that she understands the depth of the Sultan’s desire. Just for a moment.)</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Alauddin, impressing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>For anonymous, who requested “Three sentence fic for Padmaavat: Alauddin, Impressing?”</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Alauddin has a reputation for irreverence that draws followers, a cultivated carelessness that serves him well. Few see the raw need beneath, the need to have everything, to be the most impressing of the Sultan’s poorer relations. Mehrunissa is one of the few to recognize that same Khilji desire in him and encourages it with breathless laughter – and never realizes her folly until it is too late.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Mehrunissa & Alauddin, redamancy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>For avani, who asked “Padmaavat, redamancy (act of loving in return)?”</p><p>Mentions of illness.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Mehrunissa is twelve and Alauddin is fifteen, illness sweeps the palace. They both come down with it and are sequestered away in the same room while convalescing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sickness hits Mehru harder than it does Alauddin, pampered Sultan’s daughter that she is. She must manage without any maidservants while battling fever and nausea, and it is embarrassingly humbling to realize how cosseted she had been. By the third day, her tresses are a snarled mess despite her best efforts. Alauddin is generally not a tender man, but when he sees Mehru tearfully struggling with her comb, he silently takes it from her and untangles her strands with his own fingers until her hair is smooth and flowing.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Mehrunissa/Padmavati, I choose the sea in spite of shipwrecks</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Anonymous on Tumblr asked “Mehru/Padmavati, I choose the sea in spite of shipwrecks.” Mentions of past abuse and trauma.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Padmavati kisses her, Mehrunissa flinches.</p>
<p>Alauddin never forced himself on her, the way he would have on Padmavati had they not fled the invasion, but he could be carelessly rough with his empress when it pleased him. Grabbing her by the arm or shoulder, kisses deep and aggressive to the point of painfulness, barking orders at her as though she were a slave... Physical contact was at best a duty and at worst a punishment.</p>
<p>Mehru is long free of Delhi, but some memories linger underneath the skin. Will Padmavati interpret her reluctance as disgust, or think Mehru an unworthy match for her?</p>
<p>But Padmavati offers no comment, only lets Mehrunissa draw back out of her embrace until there is enough space between them that she can breathe. Mehru opens her mouth to explain, to plead, to apologize, but Padmavati silences all her hasty words with a single nod.</p>
<p>Mehru has long known that her beloved is clever and brave and kind, but she is glad to learn that Padmavati is also <em>perceptive</em>, that she understands some things without having to voice them, and she thinks she cannot thank Allah enough for sending her Chittor’s younger queen.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Mehrunissa,  You’re also a monster. But so am I</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Anonymous on Tumblr asked, “Mehrunissa, You’re also a monster. But so am I.” Warning for mentions of homophobia.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Once upon a time, Mehrunissa had loathed Malik Kafur with all she had, for he was not only a rival for her husband’s love but also a <em>man</em>, and a slave. In the arrogance of youth, she had thought no indignity could be greater to bear. But as nimble fingers splay across her back and soft lips kiss her forehead, she lifts her gaze to meet the eyes of Padmavati of Sinhala -- a woman, a Hindu, a widow, a fugitive, a <em>foe </em>-- and Mehru knows her childhood self a fool.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Mehrunissa, Panchakanya meme</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Yass_Rani asked for "Mehrunissa, Panchakanya meme".</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Ahalya</strong>
</p><p>an important first for them || deception || disguise || something they waited for || <em>kill two birds with one stone</em></p><p>Jalaluddin Khilji’s chief wife has borne only a single daughter, Mehrunissa. She has no son to her name, only haughtiness and pride and sheer grit, but still she is the Sultana of the zenana, the wife whose advice is most favored, the one accorded the title <em>Empress of the World</em>. She is a woman to be feared, and she looks to be shaping her daughter to be as fierce a lady-- but illness claims Malika-e-Jahan before her daughter’s tenth birthday, and any zest that may have been within Mehru.</p><p>
  <strong>Draupadi</strong>
</p><p><em>one grudge they held</em> || favorite hairstyle || baptism of fire || five finger discount || one big change that they wrought</p><p>Her father had been hesitant about allowing her marriage to his avaricious, irreverent nephew, and after Alauddin commits adultery and murder on their wedding night, the Emperor outright offers to have the union dissolved. “There is no shame in choosing the path of the <em>khulla</em>, Mehru <em>beti</em>” Jalaluddin reminds her, but Mehrunissa is still bright-eyed with hope, and convinced she can charm her husband away from the path of lust.</p><p>Doubt creases his forehead, but he says nothing more on the matter. Years later, Mehru wishes that Jalaluddin had been less indulgent and more stern a father, and she knows that she would have thanked him for it, were he still alive.</p><p>
  <strong>Sita</strong>
</p><p>friends are the family we choose for ourselves || green thumb || captive audience || <em>no good deed goes unpunished</em> || true blue</p><p>Mehrunissa is famously even-tempered -- years of being Alauddin’s wife taught her she needed to kill her anger, lest it consume her -- but she wants to <em>scream</em> when Ratan Singh insists on meeting with the Emperor before leaving, announcing his escape as a peacock struts its feathers. She is a stranger to him, yet she has risked her life to help him, and he is happy to waste her sacrifice, not even speaking of his loyal wife who walked into enemy territory to save him.</p><p>The King of Mewar, it seems, is as fine a husband as Mehru’s own Alauddin.</p><p>
  <strong>Tara</strong>
</p><p>one prediction they made || communal cup || one injury/wound/illness they healed or cured || <em>on the tail end</em> || keen acumen</p><p>Time is slipping so fast through her fingers, and she will soon lose her royal title and her freedom -- yet Mehrunissa considers it well worth it to have seen the Queen of Chittor limned in moonlight, to have felt her fingers on hers and to have seen the lift of her chin.</p><p>She is not so different from Alauddin after all. Risking everything for Sinhala’s Padmavati apparently runs in the Khilji bloodline.</p><p>
  <strong>Mandodari</strong>
</p><p><em>frog in boiling water</em> || mother lode || hospitality in a time of war || one time they intervened || labor of love</p><p>Alauddin’s eyes stray to Malik Kafur’s lithe form, swanning and sashaying around the court.</p><p>Mehru gazes upon the feast she spent four hours preparing with her own hands, waving away the services of their cooks.</p><p>Her husband’s ears crave Kafur’s innuendos and inflections and incisive wit.</p><p>Mehrunissa closes her ears to the bustling of the world and listens for the <em>adhan</em>, the call to praise Allah.</p><p>The Sultan’s limbs lock in a frenetic dance with the General’s, the energy of their cavorting shaking the high arches of the ceiling.</p><p>The Sultana sews the tears and rips in the Imperial doublets, and whenever she pricks a finger, her needlework alters not one beat in its rhythm and blood stiffens the fabric without intervention.</p>
  </div></div>
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